When the Moon Met the Sun
by Nemorian
Summary: Charon gets a new employer, but it's soon clear she's like nobody else he's ever met. Cheerful, pacifistic, intelligent... and very possibly out of her mind. Though he thinks working for her can't be worse than Ahzrukhal, it's bound to be more dangerous.
1. First Impressions

Super Mutants left Ghouls alone, that was the theory. For the most part, it was true. Underworld never had any problems with their sort. They seemed to have a mutual understanding to just leave each other alone. An idea was tossed around that something more might be possible, a friendship between those generally looked down upon by the smoothskins.

This thought was brought up by a woman that had recently arrived in Underworld, and had taken it upon herself to see if such a thing was possible. Of course, she made sure to hire someone for protection first, she wasn't a complete fool. That was where he came in.

Charon had been stuck as a bouncer in The Ninth Circle for years, silently loathing every minute he worked for Ahzrukhal. The day that woman walked into the bar, gave him a curious look and somehow talked Ahzrukhal into selling her his contract was one he'd never forget. Not only because it was the day he'd given his former employer what the bastard greatly needed, a shotgun blast to the face, it was also when his life got much more interesting. Not that it took much to top standing around looking menacing for hours on end.

Although he'd worked for dozens of smoothskins and ghouls over the past hundred-something years, Charon couldn't think of anyone similar to this woman. She was intelligent, cheerful, and optimistic to a fault. What really caught his attention though, was that she didn't carry a weapon. At least not one he could see. He'd had employers that prefered to stay out of combat before, but every one of them carried a gun just in case. Going into the wasteland without one was suicide.

Tempted to bring it up, he chose not to ask her about it. Not only because he normally kept his opinions to himself, he didn't know how she would react to being questioned by a hired gun and there was no telling how long they were going to be stuck together.

The moment they stepped out of The Ninth Circle together, she started talking. Saying how nice it was to find someone new to watch her back since her previous bodyguard was, rather unfortunately, vaporized on one of their little outings. Just that made his normal calm waiver for a moment, though he didn't let it show on his face. It wasn't because of the thought of dangerous work, he was looking forward to that, it was the way she had said it. Brightly and with a grin on her face all the while. Something was not right about this woman.

After spending the next couple of nights in Underworld, the idea of ghouls and mutants living together peacably was brought up when his employer was chatting with the other resident ghouls. They were skeptical about it, but Charon got the feeling there was no hope of the idea being dropped once his employer had walke off, arms folded and muttering to herself as she seemed to do when in deep thought about something.

The next morning, as he expected, she put the plan into action, telling him they needed to go out and see if any of the Super Mutants were interested in becoming friends with the Underworld ghouls.

That's what brought them to where they were now... taking cover behind an old stone column in the Museum of Technology.

"Don't be like that, there must be something I can do to convince you it would be mutually beneficial arrangement!" His employer called out from behind the pillar, though Charon doubted the mutant could hear her over the whirring fire of its minigun.

"I'll RIP your SKIN OFF with my TEETH!" The Super Mutant roared as it reloaded.

She peeked her head around the side of the column. "That seems a tad extreme. Besides, I don't really have that much left-"

Her sentence was interrupted by Charon grabbing the collar of her RobCo jumpsuit and pulling her head back just as the mutant opened fire again, pieces of the stone barrier getting blasted away right where she had been leaning out.

Shaking her head, she looked over her shoulder at Charon. "The poor dear jusr won't listen to reason. I'm beginning to think there's no other choice."

_Only beginning to?_ He wondered, shifting his grip on his weapon and waiting for a lull in the gunfire. Once it ended he stepped out from behind the column and discharged a trio of shells into the mutant's torso, dropping it like a rock.

His employer frowned, joining him and looking down at the dead mutant. "Oh, I still wanted to try talking with him... guess this is for the best though. He didn't seem very reasonable. Hopefully the others will have a little more patience."

"Others?" Charon asked before he could stop himself.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Well, of course! You did think I was going to stop at the first little bump, did you? There are plenty of Super Mutants in D.C., we're bound to find a few that'll listen."

She started up the staircase deeper into the Museum and Charon glance from her back to the pillar they had been hiding behind, or what was left of it after the mutant's onslaught. The fact that she still wanted to try negotiating with them after that made him wonder all the more just how crazy she really was.

"Oh, look! An exhibit about Vaults!" She exclaimed, dashing ahead. "The audio for the tour is even still working, this is amazing! Let's go through, Charon, it's bound to be educational!"

Heaving a sigh and wondering how she could switch gears so quickly, he hurried to catch up with her. "Coming, Moira."


	2. Metro Mayhem

Charon groaned as he woke up... or rather, regained consciousness. Going to sleep and having a subway tunnel collapse on your head are two very different things, after all. _Fucking super mutants with rocket launchers._ He thought crossly, sitting up and making sure he was still in one piece.

Moira's cheery voice came from behind him. "Welcome back to the land of the living! Thanks for pushing me out of the way like that, I wouldn't have been able to dig you out if I'd been buried too."

Frowning as he tried moving his limbs and looking at the mound of dirt and cement blocking off their way back, he wondered how it was possible he was barely even aching after that had landed on him, even if he had been on the edge of the collapse. "I was just doing what I was hired for."

"Always work first, isn't it? I understand." She walked over to him, crouching down and examining his legs. "How are they feeling? It certainly _looks_ like they mended well enough, but I've never tested it on a live subject before."

Feeling a chill at the thought of his crazy employer doing experiments on him while he was out, it was everything he could do to keep his voice level. "I feel fine... but what do you mean?"

"Oh, well, when I hauled you out of there, your legs were a little... well... crushed. Lucky for you I brought along a new medicine I'd been working on, it fixed them right up! I knew it would be more potent than a stimpack, but I never expected this much of a reaction."

Slowly getting to his feet, he wondered if it was really as bad as she put it. He'd taken hits that weren't nearly as bad as what she described and still wobbled a little the first time he got back up, but this time around he didn't even feel a twinge of pain.

A smile grew across Moira's face as Charon stood up. "I can't wait to tell Doctor Barrows about this. He'll never have to worry about getting stimpacks again!"

Charon glanced at the collapsed tunnel. "If we can find a way back to Underworld."

"Still have the pessimistic attitude, I see. That's good, the medicine hasn't altered your personality then." She said, starting to walk away from him and the pile of rubble. "Hopefully it won't have any other side effects, either... but if it does, we can deal with them together!"

"Yes." He muttered, following and hoping that any side effects that might be brought on aren't as bad as what he'd seen from her experiments so far.

The tunnels twisted and turned, but they never ran into trouble apart from a few feral ghouls and molerats. More minor annoyances than threats, really. After nearly three hours of aimless wandering and dead ends, they finally found a metro station that was still standing, if not in one piece.

Approaching the gate, Charon stopped after hearing Moira gasp. After being with her for almost a month, he knew that sound all too well, and expected the hurried footsteps that followed. Grumbling quietly to himself, he turned and ran after Moira, wondering what shiny object had caught her attention this time. Half the time he felt more like a babysitter than a bodyguard.

"Charon, look at this!" She called out after running through a doorway.

He stepped inside and found her looking at a protectron through the glass of some kind of metal cylinder. Having seen them before, he didn't understand why she was so excited.

"Looks like it's in better condition than the others around here I've seen. The protectron too. I wonder if I can..." Moira moved to the terminal by it and started typing away, muttering to herself occasionally.

Charon rolled his eyes at her back, knowing she was already off in her own little world. There were no other ways into the room and dragging her away from anything she got that interested in was impossible. Leaning against the wall while watching her work, he took out a cigarette and reached for his lighter when Moira's voice stopped him.

"Not around the equipment, Charon."

He stared at her for a moment. The woman still had her back to him and he hadn't made a sound, so how did she know? Unless, of course, he'd heard it so much at this point her voice was just giving him reminders inside his head. Moira... in his head. With that mildly disturbing thought, he stepped outside the room and closed the door behind him, taking a spot along the wall and listening for anything moving around nearby.

Lighting his cigarette, he glanced around every few seconds, unable to fully relax. There would be time for that when they got safely back to Underworld. Correction... _if _they got back to Underworld. There was no telling where the metro station came out considering how long they traveled. Frowning into the depths of the station, Charon thought about how far they'd come and how many ghouls he'd gunned down. Since his employer lacked any sense of stealth, he was certain anything back that way was now lying in a pool of its own blood. Which meant any threats would come from outside... so scouting ahead wouldn't put her at risk. She probably wouldn't even notice he'd gone.

Pushing off the wall, Charon started for the gate leading out of the tunnels. He was about to push it open when voices from the other side stopped him.

"Damn it all! I can't believe this shit!" A man shouted.

"Keep it down! You want more of those bastards to hear you and come running?" A second wondered.

"Yes! I'm gonna wipe out these sons of bitches!"

"Save it." A third voice cut in. "Once we're back to base, you can go off on a mutie killing spree if you really want to, but until then shut the fuck up."

Charon had hurried back to the door shortly after hearing them, listening as they got closer to the gate. Once the chains holding it in place rattled, he ducked inside the room, lingering only long enough to catch a glimpse of the men's armor. Inside, Moira was still staring at the computer, oblivious to the incoming problem.

"Moira, company." Charon hissed.

"Hm?" She glanced at him, blinking. "Does Winthrop need help again?"

"This is not Underworld!" He snapped, trying to keep his voice down. "Three Talon mercs, heading our way. Keep quiet and they should walk right by."

Glancing from him to the monitor, Moira absent-mindedly scratched her cheek. "But I just started the reconfiguration sequence, and once that's done..."

The terminal beeped and the metal cylinder slid open, the protectron inside coming to life. "Greetings, Moira." It said in a far from quiet mechanical drone. "What do you require?"

"I knew keeping that backup copy of Weld's personality was worth it!" She said brightly, and just as loudly.

Charon groaned quietly as he heard the Talons passing come to a stop, speaking quietly to each other about the sound coming from their little room. Pulling Moira off the chair and giving her an unceremonious shove out of the line of fire, he kicked open the door and shot at the first person he saw. Three shots later one of the mercenaries looked like ground brahmin from the waist up and the other two bolted deeper into the metro station, firing at the doorway as they fled.

Moving quickly to the side to be out of their range, Charon aimed his shotgun around the corner and fired blindly in their direction. One of them screamed, a thump echoing down the tunnel as the gunfire stopped and another voice swore. Charging out of the room, bullets tore apart the walls as the last mercenary standing tried to match his aim to Charon's speed before the ghoul got him in his sights.

A steak of red flew through the station, connecting with the unsuspecting Talon's shoulder and throwing his aim off. More followed, coming at a steady pace and making him stagger until a roar from Charon's shotgun took the mercenary's head off in an explosion of blood and bone.

"Don't mess with the best, pardner." A mechanical voice said. Charon promptly shifted his aim to the protectron, wondering if it was going to come after him, too.

Moira appeared behind it, grinning like a fool. "Not bad for a basic build, but I think he needs some upgrades before he sees any real combat."

Charon glared at the machine. He'd heard about metro protectrons attacking anything that they come across after being activated while he was in the Ninth Circle.

"Don't worry, he's not a threat to us." Moira said, noticing the look on his face. "I uploaded Weld's old personality into him."

"Weld?" He wondered, not lowering his weapon.

"Oh, it's a long story. Before I moved to Megaton, Weld was my assistant. Once I got there I offered him to Sheriff Simms in exchange for a place to set up shop and he was made gatekeeper and Deputy. Of course, the original Weld was blown to pieces in the same explosion that vaporized my last bodyguard... not to mention the whole town. Oh, and my skin." She said with a laugh. "You can't imagine how much of a surprise that was."

It always made him wonder when she talked like that, giving the impression that she took death, even the annihilation of an entire town, so lightly. Wonder if she, under that sunny disposition, was a cold-blooded killing machine. It didn't take long for him to dismiss the idea though. The woman didn't even carry a gun, so her just having a few screws loose was a far more likely explanation.

"Very well." He muttered, starting to lower his shotgun but swiftly turning and raising it again upon hearing a groan from deeper in the station.

At the sound of scraping, Moira went over to investigate, Charon at her side with his gun trained on the Talon mercenary that was trying to pull himself along the ground. His lower back was covered in blood, a short trail of it covering the few inches he had moved. Walking by him, Charon kicked away the gun he had been crawling toward.

The mercenary looked up, scowling as Charon took aim at his head. "Just hurry up and do it, you zombie bastard."

"Hold on, Charon." Moira said, stopping him a split second before he could pull the trigger. "How bad is it?"

"I can't feel my legs, that's how fucking bad it is." The mercenary snapped.

"Even with treatment, it's doubtful he'll walk again." Charon stated.

"Right, so either shoot me or give me my gun go I can do it myself."

"We could also just leave him for the ferals."

The mercenary shot him a cold look. "Don't you fucking dare."

"You're saying he's as good as dead no matter what we do?" Moira asked. Charon nodded and she started digging through her pockets. "In that case, I should try something."

A wary expression crossed both men's faces, but Charon's the one that spoke first. "What?"

She pulled a syringe from her breast pocket and smiled. "Just a little experiment. Hold still now, this won't hurt a bit!" Crouching down, she popped the cap off and thrust the needle into his back, just above the wound.

"What the hell are you doing?" The Talon cried, taking a swing at her but unable to put any real force behind it.

"Giving you my new medicine to see what effect it'll have." She stood up, taking a few steps away and watching him intently. "Oh, there may be a _slight_ burning sensation. Perfectly natural."

"Burning... where?"

"My best guess... here, there and everywhere!"

"Wha-" The mercenary gasped, clutching his chest. His breathing became heavy and sweat beaded on his forehead, then he screamed in agony, thrashing on the floor and forcing Charon to take a step back. "Slight my ass! What the fuck did you-" He screamed again, rolling onto his side and gripping his stomach as if he wanted to rip it open and pull out whatever had been injected into him.

"Oh dear, I didn't think the effect would be this severe." Moira commented as the mercenary cried out, sweat now pouring off him.

Charon held back cringing at the sight. He'd seen as well as done his share of torture working for people in the past, had planned on killing the man anyway and hated Talon as much as anyone, but this just seemed pointlessly cruel. They weren't trying to get information or anything, it was just another of Moira's insane experiments and this poor bastard was her lab molerat. Pointing his shotgun at the man's head again, he glanced at Moira. "Shall I put him out of his misery?"

"No." She said without hesitation, her gaze fixed on the flailing mercenary. "It might still work."

"Why do you think that?"

Moira looked at him without turning her head, an odd grin crossing her face. "It worked for you, didn't it?"

Charon's eyes widened a bit as he looked from her to the man, her voice echoing in the back of his head. _"When I hauled you out of there, your legs were a little... well... crushed."_ He stared, shotgun hanging loosely in his hand. Moira gave him the same thing. Even though he didn't remember anything before waking up, did he go through an episode similar to what this man was experiencing? She was a good distance away when he awoke, and said something as soon as he did. Could she have been watching him go though the same thing only a few hours ago? And if so...

Silence filled the room and brought Charon out of his thoughts. The man was laying on his side, eyes rolled back into his head and blood dripping from his mouth.

"Well, that's a shame." Moira mumbled, crossing her arms. "I'll have to go over my notes and see what could have gone wrong. Come on, Charon."

He nodded out of reflex, following after her but letting his eyes linger on the corpse for a moment. A corpse that could have been him, if whatever she gave him had ended with the same effect. On some level, he wondered if that was still possible. If maybe it was killing him too, just doing it much more slowly, without his noticing. Shaking those thoughts from his head, he focused on what was important for now. Getting back to Underworld.

"Come on, Weld! We've got a long road ahead!" She said brightly, walking by the protectron.

"Yes, Moira." It droned, slowly turning to follow.

Charon frowned at her back. The dumb robot was going to slow them down considerably, which normally wouldn't bother him too much but in this case it would probably end up just giving him more time to think about things. How Moira used him as a test subject... how he might suddenly drop dead from an injection of all things... how Moira could watch someone writhe in agony without apparently feeling anything except curiousity... and about how his description of her really being a cold-blooded killing machine may have been an understatement.


End file.
